iPod Classic's Future in Doubt Due to Shrinking Market for 1.8" Hard Drives?

[Bubba Satori]

Not everyone one has hundred's of gigs of music, and if Apple sees a reason to drop the classic, they will.

That's some real pretzel logic right there. Well done.

I'll probably get an Archos 7 if Apple kills the classic.

http://www.archos.com/products/imt/archos_7/features.html?country=us&lang=en

 

[OllyW]

I'll probably get an Archos 7 if Apple kills the classic.

I'll just keep my classic.

 

[boefmans]

So you'd prefer to pay $1000 for an SSD iPod Classic instead? I still have my original 10 GB Firewire iPod and it's going strong. It's been dropped, kicked, beaten to hell and still works great.

My classic as well ;-) My former ipod (60gb) too, I sold it to replace it with the 160 gb version...
the touch thingy works nice, so a combination of the two would be great. I dont really care what kind of memory they use nor the size (if it aint going to be bigger then my 160 gb classic)!

Probably a 1 Tb would be better then a 500 Gb, since, at the time it will come out, my library will be bigger already

 

[sushi]

1. Replace the HHD with an SSD
2. Make it iPod Touch thin and water resistant
3. Keep the screen and click wheel

This brings up an interesting question.

In the past, Apple had two models. Basically a 1 platter HD and a 2 platter HD version. Of course the 2 platter version was thicker. If memory serves, we had 80 and 160GB Classic models at that time.

Now we have a 120GB Classic model that is the same size as the 80GB (1 platter HD) version before.

If Apple could reduce the thickness with Flash memory, would they do it? Or would they keep it the same thickness as it is today and have a bigger battery for example?

Comments?

OTOH, I could sorta see the line- Nano 16GB and 32GB, then Classic 64GB and 128GB. To enable the higher capacity models without overpricing them might require the different configuration of flash chips. I don't know enough about flash memory pricing to guess where Apple could do price points for these different models.

I agree that we'll see the Nano will get a memory bump like you indicated.

I don't believe that the Classic will offered in a 64GB version as that is rumored upper size of the new touch when it is released this fall.

I see the Classic as either 128GB Flash memory (not SSD) or a larger HD than 120GB. I have not been following the 1.8 inch HD development so I don't know what is coming down the pike. The jump to Flash memory would simplify Apple's lineup to be all Flash based.